January 21, 2013

My Cute Family!

What a week we had. We're dealing with some pretty exciting/interesting things right now! A lot of our attention has been on one of our investigators, Anne this week. She was the one I was talking about last week about her husband not being too pleased that she accepted to be baptized when he was away on business. So here's the situation we have with her- Anne's husband is a strong Muslim from Pakistan. (Anne, is Caucasian and from Scotland.) There's no chances of them moving and living in Pakistan so we are okay to be teaching Anne about Jesus Christ - it won't be putting their family in any danger. Anne is actually a really strong Christian; she just doesn't attend any particular church. She's an amazing woman, 38 years old, and they have 3 adorable little girls. All of her beliefs are right in line with what we believe and she always gathers her little family to pray each night and she makes sure she is teaching her girls about the teachings of Christ. She lives the standards of our church already. And her and her husband have always just agreed to disagree about religion. They avoid arguing about it, and just recognize that they have different views.

Well, Anne was telling us in a visit early on last week that she still feels that being baptized is absolutely the right thing for her. She told her mom and her husband that she feels strongly that something is telling her that this is the right path for her and she believes that the feeling she is getting is from God. (She is seriously so prepared! I wish you could hear the things she says in our lessons!!) She's able to recognize the spirit and she always refers back to our first visit with her when we taught her the Restoration and that's when she received this witness from the spirit that this is true and the right path that she needs to take.

Okay, but here's the hiccup we're having. In order for Anne and Sahid to get married, Anne had to formally accept the Islam Faith. She's not a practicing Muslim; they call her a learning Muslim - basically just someone who accepted their faith. Well Anne learned from her husband that if she wants to be baptized into our church, she has to formally resign from the Islam faith and it can be kind of complicated. So Anne phoned the closest Mosque, which is in Glasgow, Scotland, to talk to the head Islamic leader to try and set up an appointment to withdraw from the religion. So when they get back to her on it, their head Islamic leader will be coming to Anne in her home to talk to her about why she's withdrawing from the Islam faith. (It sounds like basically he will be coming to talk her out of it) Anne's really nervous about this appointment and has asked us to be there when he comes to back her up and answer any questions that she may not be able to. So either this week or next week, we will be having this withdrawal meeting with the Islamic leader from the Glasgow mosque. (Soooo- this will be interesting. Haha. Can't say I've ever done something like this before!) Anyways, We've talked about it and we really don't want this to turn into a contention hour or anything.

So our plan is to be there to provide moral support for Anne and to help her answer the questions that this man will be asking her, if she isn't able to. So this meeting will either make or break her chances of being baptized. But I like what Anne's mom said to her. Anne's mom was telling her that as long as she just expresses her sincere feelings she's been having - then he doesn't have the right to argue much with it. In my mind, her mom's exactly right. I feel like it's taking away her agency by not letting her change religion. But anyways, we're waiting to hear back from the mosque on the time and day of this withdrawal meeting. So, will you keep Anne in your prayers that everything will go okay with her resigning from the Islam Faith and that her husband's heart will soften on the idea of her being baptized? We could really use some prayers for her and her situation right now!

But things are good. Kathleen has come to church three times in a row now- but we'll have to extend her baptism date because she's still struggling to quit smoking and some other things. But we see her 3 times each week, she's come to church each week, and to our family home evenings! It will just take some time with her.

I love you guys. Thanks for the support. I love being out here. Ya, there are hard moments, but I love being a missionary- there's really nothing like it. I'm glad I'm here. :)